Dell powers up its Cloud

November 19, 2010 Dave Ohara

I just started following Barton George’s blog as I found it an easy way to track Dell’s cloud and server innovation.

What I do, and have done, for a living

Last year I joined Dell as their cloud computing evangelist. As such I act as Dell’s ambassador to the cloud computing community (I had to supply my own sash). I also work with analysts and press and am responsible for messaging as well as blogging and tweeting (you can follow me on twitter at barton808 and you know where my blog is).

Prior to Dell I spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems in a variety of roles from manufacturing to product and corporate marketing. My last three years there I spent as an Open Source evangelist, avid blogger, and driver of Sun’s GNU/Linux strategy and relationships.

Barton posts on Dell’s launch of its Cloud Solutions.

Dell Cloud Solutions up and running!

Back in March we announced Dell’s cloud solutions. Today at a press conference in San Francisco we announced their general availability along with some examples of customers who are employing them. (Woohoo!)

What’s the big idea

The idea behind these offerings has been to leverage the experience we in the DCS group have gained over the last several years providing custom systems to some of the world’s largest cloud providers. These new solutions are targeted at organizations the next tier down (the “next 1,000″) from the hyperscale customers we have been working with.

Here is the official Dell press release.

Dell Data Center Solutions Unit Momentum Builds; Helps Customers Easily Build And Deploy Cloud And Hyperscale Computing Infrastructures

Date : 11/19/2010

Round Rock, Texas

Uniserve , InsightExpress and Eightfold Logic are building out highly efficient and scalable data analytics and cloud computing infrastructures with help from Dell

Dell’s Data Center Solutions team is providing specialized cloud and data analytics solutions that are workload optimized and deliver a great return on investment by leveraging partnerships with Joyent, Aster Data andGreenplum

Dell’s new PowerEdge C series experiencing rapid market adoption to be the popular choice with customers looking for high-density compute performance with energy and cost efficiency

Dell today announced growing market adoption and interest in its Dell Cloud Solutions as customers across a variety of industries including market research and IT hosting services have chosen Dell Data Center Solutions (DCS) to build out their own cloud computing, data analytics and hyperscale data center installations. Supporting Dell’s broader Virtual Era strategy, these holistic cloud solutions are comprised of pre-tested, pre-assembled, fully-supported and optimized hardware, software and services. As a result, these customers have experienced a more responsive web infrastructure, deeper business insights and reduced overall operating costs.

When you can’t breath, Green becomes a priority

November 19, 2010 Dave Ohara

MSNBC/AP report on a change in twitter post by the US Embassy in Bejing.

U.S. Embassy: Beijing air quality is 'crazy bad'

Twitter post later changed to 'beyond index'

Alexander F. Yuan / AP

A man walks on a pedestrian overpass on a hazy day at Beijing's central business district Friday.

By CHI-CHI ZHANG

BEIJING — Pollution in Beijing was so bad Friday that the U.S. Embassy, which has been independently monitoring air quality, ran out of conventional adjectives to describe it, at one point saying it was "crazy bad."

The embassy, which issues hourly pollution reports via Twitter, later deleted the phrase from a post, replacing it with "beyond index," and saying it was an "incorrect" description. The embassy said it would also revise the language to use when the air quality index goes above 500, its highest point and a level considered hazardous for all people by U.S. standards

It will be interesting when the health issues get big enough to drive greener behaviors.

"Beijing needs to place more of a priority on the environment. The health of Beijing residents is no less important than the health of those athletes who were here for a few weeks," Ma added. "We can't just expect wind, snow or rain to wipe out the pollution when it gets bad. The city must take pollution more seriously and implement preventive measures."

One Beijing resident said he was suffering breathing difficulties.

"I feel like I'm having some problems with breathing and distress in my chest," said a high school teacher who only gave his surname, Qiao.

Saudi Aramco Command Center, the ultimate NOC

November 18, 2010 Dave Ohara

Tours of a data center most of the time end of up on a tour of a NOC.

A network operations center (or NOC, pronounced "nok," like the word "knock") is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network.

Large organizations may operate more than one NOC, either to manage different networks or to provide geographic redundancy in the event of one site being unavailable or offline.

Check out this video of the Saudi Aramco Command Center, the ultimate NOC. This is part of 60 minutes special.

Saudi Aramco Command Center from Ben Fry on Vimeo.

What is the hardware behind the Saudi Arabia Command Center? I would bet Dell and HP based on the use of Dell and HP Hardware used by Saudi Aramco for the Top 500 Super Computers.

Electricity for a Data Center from Hamsters or Biomass, Missouri Senator Kit Bond votes for Biomass

November 16, 2010 Dave Ohara

I just got back from a long 5 days in Missouri, (Mi zoor ah). Mi zoor ah is in general the pronunciation used by the Republicans in the state and Mi zoor ee is by the Democrats. Senator Kit Bond is a highly recognized Republican in the state.

"Serving Missouri has been my life's work. I have walked the land, fished its rivers and been humbled by the honesty and hard work of our people. The highest honor is to receive and safeguard the public trust" - Kit Bond.

Christopher S. "Kit" Bond is a sixth generation Missourian, born in St. Louis in 1939. He grew up in Mexico, MO, where he still resides and tends to several groves of trees he planted by hand.

I was on a panel right after Senator Kit Bond's keynote presentation on renewable energy and data centers. I met the Senator and discussed the idea of the "grass fed data center" fueled by Missouri Biomass.

Below is a video that gives you an idea of the Senator's vision.

Senator Kit Bond discusses the potential of using Biomass to fuel data centers in Missouri which is getting traction with a lot of potential potential clients as the Senator mentions.

Soon there is going to be a biomass powered data center and with efforts like Senator Kit Bond the momentum continues to build.

One of the humorous parts was the Senator making the point the Internet is not powered by hamsters. But if you had few billion of these little guys you might get close to a megawatt of power.

A more enlightened approach to change

November 15, 2010 Dave Ohara

To Green the Data Center with lasting sustainable value requires change. Measuring PUE adds a metric. Meeting a LEED certification creates a requirement. Small changes are made to accommodate these needs. But, many times there is not a fundamental change.

Why change? Because, if you don't change you do the same things you have done in the past. Many learn to change labels of what they do, picking up new acronyms and buzz words, but don't fundamentally change.

So, if you are going to change you can take the approach of pick your number, define a timeline, make a plan, get a budget, execute, promote how you were successful, but ultimately fail in making a lasting change that feels good.

Why? Because you weren't open to ask the tough questions. You went for the easy answers. A lower PUE and a LEED certification.

Twitter's Kevin Weil put it well.

If you want to change, think about how to ask the right questions.

I think most people are changing to conform to accepted changes. It's safe. Which brings up an issue of whether conforming to norms is consider change?

If you want to change to be more competitive you most likely want to innovate.

Are you changing to innovate or changing to conform?